Calculating machine



Aug. 31, 1937. R. 1 MULLER CALCULATING MACHINE Filed May 7, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Aug. 31, 1937. R L, MULLER 2,091,646

CALCULAT ING MACH INE Filed May 7, 1954 2 sheetssheet 2 J FJgcZ. 20

Z7 3g /Z 02 67 o W l 33 65 .'I" 09! ff/"f" I i, 1 laft O o l .58 i r 90 8 39 Z l 4 H% 9 3g f l 93 171g. 3. L14 U F1g24. f JOURNAL 011130K SUBT. GROSS NET 5.00 50.00 $45.00 $45 A N 0 .00 c E N fr s $45.00

20.00 1500.00 $1480.00 CHECK $148 A ND .00 CENTS $148.00

CHECK $1480 A N D .00 C E N T S $1480.00

Patented Aug. 31, 1937 CALCULATIN G MACHINE Robert L.' Muller, Detroit, Mich., assigner to Burroughs Adding Machine Company, Detroit, Mich., acorporation vof Michigan Application May 7, 1934, Serial No. 724,277

s claims.

This invention relates to calculating machines and is particularly concerned with the printing mechanism thereof whereby a character may be printed in a single column only to the left of the amount printed.

Inthe Bentzel Patent No. 1,958,464, there is.

shown a printing mechanism selectively operable to print characters to the left oiL the printed amount in certain banks in which no digit is 0 indexed and to printl a currency sign to the left of the characters. In my'prior issued Patent No. '1,997,073 dated April 9, 1935, I have disclosed a machine selectively operable to print special characters or signs such as asterisks in all orders to the left of the highest bank indexed, while which is floating in nature and will automat-` ically be printed immediately adjacent the highest digit printed regardless of in which bank or order it may'appear, and it is to this problemthat this invention is directed.

'I'he general object of the invention is to provide an improved calculating machine. A more particular object is to provide a calculatingmachine-capable of checkwriting and of printing a single character only immediately to the left of the amount printed by the machine regardless of the number of digits in the amount printed.

Other and more particular objects will appear from the following specification and drawings illustrating an embodiment of the invention and in which,-

Figure 1 is a right side elevation oi.' a calculating machine embodying the invention;

n Fig. 2 is a perspective of portions of the printing section of the machine illustrating the controlling latches for the hammers;

Fig. 3 illustrates a sample of work, in the form of a portion of a journal sheet," that can be performed by a machine oi' this invention; and Fig. 4 illustrates checks that could be printed by. a machine oi this invention.

General construction The machine disclosed is not only capable of use as a calculating and bookkeeping machine,

but is also capable of writing checks for the amount entered on the keys of the machine in such a manner as to prevent alteration thereof.4

Referring to Fig. 1 the machine is provided with a plurality of banks of depressible amount keys 5 I, the number of banks being varied to suit the requirements. Items are entered by depressing the keys and, as each key is depressed, its stem rocks a small bell crank lever 2 which pulls a stop wire 3 into position to arrest the downward movement of its actuator rack 4. 'I'here are a plurality oi.' these actuator racks of different orders corresponding to the banks of amount keys. When a key I is depressed, its bell crank lever 2 moves a key locking slide 6 rearward where it is latched by a detent I until released near the end of the machine operation. Rearward movement of the key locking plate for a given bank'rocks the latch 9 for that bank counter-clockwise to release the actuator racks for said 20 bank. The actuators do not move downward untilfurther released by movement of the releasing bail II which extends across the machine under arms I2 connected to the actuatorfracks by a pin and slot connection I3 that enables the ,25 racks to move a limited amount relatively to the 'actuators under certain conditions.

During the forward stroke of the machine the bail II is rocked counterclockwise from the position of Fig. 1 and during the return stroke it is 30 returned clockwise to .the position shown in said figure. This movement of the bail is under the control of the cam I4 xed to a shaft I5l that has a crank fastened to it which is connected by springs .I6 to a crank on the main drive shaft I1. 35

Registering mechanism is provided in the form of two sets of pinions I8 and I9 forming a tumbling register that may `be used for addition and for subtraction. The registering mechanism is rocked into and out of engagement with the 40 actuators by a pitman 20 and an arm 2l in a manner that is well known in the art and which l,under the inuence of a spring drum 23 and which is automatically returned by a motor in the manner described in the Rinsche Patent No. 1,580,534. The carriage is provided with a tabulating mechanism 23 by means of which it may be tabulated from column to column so as to occupy different columnar positions which are under the control of the operator or of the paper carriage asit may be desired.

The machine also has an automatic repeat mechanism (not shown) such as is fully described in the Muller Patent 1,397,774 which causes the machine to automatically go through a series of operations after it has been set into operation in a predetermined columnar position of the carriage.

Printing mechanism The machine is provided with a printing mechanism having a plurality of type carrying members of different orders which are dierentially positioned at the same time that the actuator racks or actuators are positioned. The type are carried by the rear extensions of arms l2 whichare enlarged to form type carrying members or segments 26.

Each segment carries a plurality of movable types 21 at their outer ends including digit types which range from 0 to 9, inclusive, and in the present invention a special character type.

When bail ll is moved downwardly during a forward stroke of the machine under the influence of its cam I4, each type segment 26 will be stepped relatively to its actuator because of the slotted connection i3 and under the inluence of spring 28, and the type segments, together with the actuators, then continue their movements until arrested in diierential positions normally determined for each order by the respective wire 3, that has been moved to position by depression of the amount key l. Upon return movement of the restoring bail il, the types and actuators are restored to their normal positions shown in Fig. 1, except that, in the event of a transfer in any order the actuator in said order is given an extra step of movement owing to the fact that the transfer pawl 29 is rocked so that it will not limit the upward movement of the actuator racks to engagement with 'the stud 3| on said racks.

'Ihe hammer operating means for the printing mechanism is of the general type illustrated in Burroughs Patent No. 505,078 with the improvements described in the Putnam Patent 1,018,371 and is in general as follows:

After the type segments are positioned, the printing mechanism is operated to fire the hammers 32 and strike the types 21 that are in printing position. 'I'he iring hammers 32 are pivoted at 33, Fig. 2, and each hammer is red by its respective ring member 34 (Fig. 1) pivoted on the shaft 36 and urged clockwise by a spring 31. Each ring member is normally held against movement by a trigger 38 that hooi-.s over the pointed upper end of the iiring member. When vthe trigger for any bank is released, the firing member 34 for that bank is suddenly snapped clockwise as viewed in Fig. 1 by its spring 31 and through a stud 39 on the ring member operating in a cam groove 4I in the corresponding hammer 32, ires the hammer rearwardly toward the platen.

The triggers 33 are released by their respective pawls 42 (Fig. 1) pivoted on a shaft 43 carried by the upper ends of the two arms 44 that are pivoted on a shaft 46, one of said arms being illustrated in Fig. i. The lower end of arm 44 abatata illustrated in Fig. 1 extends down into the path of a stud 41 (Fig. 1) on the plate 48 that operates with the shaft l5 and the pitman controlling arm 2l.

Near the end of each forward stroke of the machine, the stud l1 engages the lower end of the arm B4 to rock it counterclockwise to thereby carry all the pawls 42 forward to release triggers 33, thereby releasing the ring members 34 for sudden action. This release occurs in all orders in which the type segments 26 move to diierential positions greater than their zero positions.

In the orders in which the segments do not move farther than Atheir zero positions, the tails of the pawls 42 engage shoulders 49 (Fig. 1) on the segments 26 as the pawls are moved forwardly and before the triggers would ordinarily be released. The shoulders 49 cam the pawls 42 counterclockwise and move their ends out of the path of the shoulders on the triggers so that the triggers in these orders are not released as the pawls are moved'forwardly. This prevents operation of the printing mechanism in all banks in which no amount keys are depressed,and, therefore according'to the mechanism thus far described, no figures or ciphers are printed to the left of the last order to the left in which an amount key is depressed. The printing mechanism does however print ciphers to the right, i. e., in all banks to the right of the last bank to the right in which a digit is indexed.

This is accomplished by providing the triggers 38 with tails (not shown) which overlap to the right so that when a trigger in any order is depressed and released it will depress and release all of those to the right of it that are not released by their own power. Accordingly, the hammers in yorders to the right where zeros should be printed will be fired along with the hammers in the orders where digits are to be printed, as shown and described in the heretofore mentioned Bentzel patent.

The ring members are restored by a bail 5| .(Fig. 1) carried by two side arms 52 pivoted on the shaft 36. One of these arms 52 is connected by a link 53 with the plate 48 that oscillates with the shaft I5. During the forward stroke of the machine the arms 52 are rocked clockwise which moves the bail 5| out of engagement with the vtails of the tiring member 34 so that they are free to move under the action of the springs 31 when the triggers 38 are released. During the return stroke of the machine the arms 52 are rocked counterclockwise during which movement the bail 5l engages the tails of the firing members 34 and moves them back to normal.

Printing to the left of the last order to the left in which an actuator rack is moved The printing mechanism as so far described is conditioned so that ,it is disabled in the orders to the left of the last highest order to the left in which a key is depressed or an actuator moved during a machine operation because no keys are depressed in these orders. To print characters to the left of the amount printed, as in a check, for example, it is necessary to have the printing mechanism operate to the left of the last digit that is indexed and this requires a special control of the printing mechanism.

The printing mechanism is automatically conditioned for this purpose by the paper carriage. Some of the mechanisms are disclosed in the Gascon Patent 1,395,991 and in more detail inv the Bentzel patent and therefore will be outlined only here. Referring to Fig. 1 the paper carriage is provided with a plurality of rollers 54 of varying sizes, small, medium, and large, which act on the arm 55 of a pivoted yoke 51 having another arm 58 engaging a member 59. IConnected to the upper end of the member 59 is a link in the form of a rack 6I having teeth that mesh with the pinion fixed to a cam shaft 82. Rack Bi is normally urged to the left as viewed in Fig. 1 to normal position. When one of thc rollers on the carriage engages the arm 56, yoke 51 is rocked, which in turn rocks the arm 58. This moves the rack 6I to the right (Fig. 1) a distance corresponding to the size of the roller. The rack preferably has four positions as indicated by the four notches in its lower edge with which a locking device cooperates to lock the rack in its various positions, said locking device 'not being illustrated but being shown in said Gascon patent.

A cam shaft 62 is provided which carries a plurality of cams 53 which in the different positions oi the camshaft, act on the printing mechanism in different orders as is explained in detail in the Bentzel patent. In brief, this mechanism is as follows:

To each of the triggers or latches 38 is pivotally connected a forwardly extending link 5l to which is attached a lever 65 urged upwardly by a spring 66. Levers 55 are adapted to be engaged by cams 63 upon cam shaft G2 and have laterally extendi ing pins 51 (Fig. 2) projecting therefrom in position to engage the bent end 68 of the link 64 of the next higher order or bank of the machine, whenever the associated lever 55 is depressed by engagement with a cam 53.

In other'words, @whenever a trigger 3l is released its forward movement movesv its link B4 and lever 55 forwardly. If lever 55 is in lowered position by engagement with a cam 6I, the lever pin 61 will engage the bent end portion 68 of the lever associated with the next higher order trigger and release it to nre its associated hammer.

To cause printing tothe left in certain orders or banks, when desired cam shaft 62 is turned to cause the cams 5l to move selected latches to obtain the desired printing in different orders as described in the Bentzel patent and in my prior Patent No. 1,997,073. to which reference is made for further details of this and the foregoing mechanism.

To print characters in place of zeros to the left of the last digit indexed there is mounted at the yfront ofthe machine (Fig. l) a yokeshaped bail 10 pivoted at 1I on the machine frame plate 12. This bail carries a series of bearing brackets 13 which are fixed to it and which extend toward the machine, there being a bracket in each order of the machine in which a control for special characters is desired.

Pivoted on each of the bearing brackets is a I bell crank lever 1I (Fig. l) urged clockwise byv a spring. One arm 11 of the bell crank lever 14 extends substantially horizontally toward the machine and this arm has a bent end or lug 1l that constitutes a feeler tor the register pinion is of its order.' nach of the register pinions 1s provided with a circular disk 19 having a notch 8l for receiving the lug 18 of arm 11 when the register pinion is in zero position. The other arm oi' the bell crank lever extends upwardly and is connected by a pin and slot connection to the -middle ann l2 on a three-arm lever Il fastened to a short shaft 84 located between and pivoted in the stationary plates oi the machine. The lever Il has a rearwardly extending arm 55 provided with a shouldered nose 85 adapted to engage under the pin of the pin slot connection I3 of the type carrying member l2.

The parts just described normally occupy the position shown in Fig. 1 where they are inactive. The bell crank lever 1| cannot rock any further clockwise because its edge engages the edge of the bracket 13. The nose 8B of the ann 85 cannot move under the stud i3 because the threearm lever 83 is held in the position by the bell crank lever 14. The foregoing mechanism will be referred to as a latching mechanism because it is operable to latch the type carrying members i2 against movement.

In the orders in which characters are to beprinted, the type carrying members I2 are provided in the usual manner with the digits 0 to 9 inclusive, but the top type instead of carrying the 0 and the l type only, carries an additional type s for printing a special char-` acter which in the illustrated embodiment is a dollar sign.

The type S is positioned so that when the type carrying member I2 is in its normal position and while the machine is at rest, the special character or is in position for printing. As previously stated, the connections between the type carrying members and the actuators is such that the type carrying members may move a step relatively to the actuators even though the actuators are not moved. When the machine is operated and the type carrying member moves a step relatively to its actuator the 0 type will be moved up to printing position if the actuator is not moved. If the actuator is moved to index a digit the extra step of movement positions the type carrying member to print the proper digit corresponding to the indexing of the actuators.

Means is provided for moving the latching mechanism to latching position and in theembodiment illustrated this means is actuated and automatically controlled by the paper carriage or by manually depressible keys as described in my prior Patent No. 1,997,073.

Float-ing character printing As previously stated', it is not always desired to print characters in. all banks to the left of the last digit indexed to the left as disclosed in the Bentzel patent, or as disclosed in my prior patent. In some instances, however, it is desired to print a special character, such as a dollar or pound sign, in the bank immediately to the left of the last left indexed bank regardless of which bank this may be as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. In other words, for some purposes it is desirable to have in eil'ect what may be termed a oating character", i. e., a character automatically printed in the bank immediately to the left of the last bank in which a digit is indexed, regardless of which bank is the last to be indexed, and, of course, without interfering y with the printing of digits in all of these banks when they are properly indexed by depression 4. anemie means are provided to prevent this printing.

Therefore provision is made so that the special character printing occurs only in the one bank immediately to the left of the highest left bank 5 indexed.

For this purpose the hammers of those banks in which it is desired to be able to print characters are latched against movement. Accordingly, each of the hammers 32 cooperating with the 10 character printing type is provided with a hook Si (Fig. 2) normally engaged by a pivoted latch 92 pivoted on a shaft 93 and normally urged to unlatched position by spring Sil. Each latch is provided with a laterally extending tail 9S l5 which extends beneath the lowermost type of the type segment of the next lower order and is retained thereby in latching position with its hammer against the action of spring s@ until the type 2l and segment 26 of the next lower order is 20 raised.

y Consequently, if any type sector is retained in its character printing position the printing hammer of the next higher order is locked against printing. On-the other hand, when a type sec- T tor is raised above the character printing position, to print digits to ..9, the hammer of the next higher order will be released. This occurs because raising the type and type segments releases tail 9S of the latch cooperating with the 30 hammer of the next higher order and permits the spring 9d to release the latch whereby the hammer 32 of the next higher order will be released for ring. The type segment associated with the released hammer, i. e., the segment of 35 the next higher order to the segment that is indexed, is not raised and will cause a character to be printed upon firing of the released hammer. It will also be understood that inasmuch as the character segments and types which printa char- 4o acter are not raised, the hammer to the next succeeding higher order and those orders to the left will not be raised. Consequently, only one character will be printed and that will be the character on the segment immediately to the left of 45 the highest order that is indexed regardless of which order is indexed and without interfering with the printing of any of the orders when indexed. After the hammers are fired they are, of course returned by the firing members 341 and the 50 type segments 26 and type 2 are lowered as disclosed in the heretofore mentioned patents. Lowering of the type causes the lowermost type to reengage tails 96 and restore latches 92 into locking relation with the hooks di of the hammers.

55 It will be understood, of course, that hooks 9i and latches s2 may be provided in any desired order or orders of the machine so that a iloating character may be printed in any desired order under the control of the highest order actua- 60 tor that is actually indexed.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that in addition to being capable of printing characters to the left of the highest order printed due to indexing, the character printing being selectively controlled by either carriage control or manual control through the highest order rack indexed; the present invention provides for selective printing of a single character or sign to the left of the highest order in the order or column only immediately to the left of the highest left order indexed regardless of which order is indexed.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that minor changes may be made in the details 75 of construction without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, as deiined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A calculating machine having a plurality of banks of depressible amount keys, a plurality of 5 actuators, a printing mechanism including a plurality of type carrying members and type hammers, means for causing firing of said type hammers in orders to the left of the last order to the left in which an actuator is moved during a machine operation, means for latching said type hammers to prevent operation thereof, and means for releasing the latch to the left of the last order to the left in which an actuator is moved during a machine operation while the remaining latches remain latched to cause printing ofA a character in said single order.

2. A calculating machine having a plurality of banks of depressible amount keys. a plurality of actuators, a printing mechanism including a plu- .rality of type carrying members and type hammers, means for ijlring said type hammers in orders to the left of the last order to the left in which an actuator is moved during a machine operation, means for latching 'said type hammers 25 to prevent operation thereof, and means controlled by the last actuator to the left that is moved for releasing the latch to the left of the last order to the left in which an actuator is moved during a machine operation while the remaining latches remain latched to cause printing of a character in said single order.`

3. A calculating machine having a plurality of depressible keys, a plurality of actuators, a printing mechanism having plural order type carrying members controlled by said keys and supporting type including a special character type, means automatically conditioned to cause certain of said type to print in those orders to the left of the last order to the left in which an actuator is moved, latching means for preventing said printing to the left when so conditioned, and means for releasing the latching means in the left order immediately adjacent to the last order to the left in which an actuator is moved to print a character therein while the remaining latches are unaffected.

4. A calculating machine having a plurality of depressible amount keys, a traveling paper carriagc, a plurality of actuators, a printing vmechanism-'forprinting the amounts entered on said keys and `the totals thereof having plural order type carrying members controlled by said keys and supporting type including a special character type, means conditioned by said carriage for causing certain of said type to print in those orders to the left of the last order to the left in which an actuator is moved, and means conditioned by and in accordance with the highest order actuator moved during a machine operation for limiting the printing in said orders to the left order immediately adjacent to the last order to the left in which an actuator is moved to print a character therein. v

5. A calculating machine having in combination a plurality of depressible keys, a plurality of actuators, plural order type carrying members controlled by said keys and supporting type including a special character type, means for causing certain of said type to print in those orders to the left of the last order to the left in which an actuator is moved during a machine operation, and means conditioned by said actuators for permitting said first means to cause said type to print a character in the order immediately to the left in which an actuator is moved, said first means in the remaining orders to the left being inoperative.

6. A calculating machine having in combination a plurality of depressible keys, a plurality of actuators, a printing mechanism comprising plural order type carrying members controlled by said keys and supporting type including a special character type, means for causingcertain of said type to print in those orders to the left of the last order to the left in which an actuator is moved, means for preventing said rst means from causing printing in said orders to the left, and means associated with said latter means and conditioned by the last actuator to the left moved during a machine operation for releasing said preventing means to permit said rst means to cause printing of a character in the order immediately to the left in which an actuator is moved during a machine operation without printing in the remaining orders to the left.

7. In a calculating machine having a plurality of register pinions, a plurality of actuators associated therewith, and a plural order printing mechanism comprising printing type and hammers operable during cycles of operation of thle machine to print the amounts entered in said register pinion and the totals thereof, said printing mechanism being normally conditioned to print to the right and not to the left of the last orders in which a digitl is indexed, the combination with means automatically operable to cause said printing type to print characters to the left of the last order to the left in which a digit is indexed, of means operable in accordance with the highest order actuator moved during a machine operation for limiting the printing of characters to the left to a single order immediately adjacent the last order to the left in which a digit is indexed.

8. In a calculating machine having a plurality of banks of depressibie amount keys, a traveling carriage, a plurality of actuators, a printing mechanism including a plurality of type carrying members supporting type including a special character type, the combination of means automatically conditioned by said carriage for causing impressions to be made by certain of said type in orders to the left of the last order to the left in which an actuator is moved during a machine operation, with latches for preventing said means for causing impressions by said type to the left of the last moved .actuator and means associated with said latches for releasing the latch in the order to the left of the last order to the left in which an actuator is moved while the other latches remain in latched position.

ROBERT L. MULLER. 

